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Apollo Creed
*Ivan Drago }} Apollo Creed (August 17, 1943 - 1985) is a boxer from the Rocky film series, initially portrayed as the World Heavyweight Champion. He is portrayed by Carl Weathers. Biography Creed initially was Rocky Balboa's target in his quest to become champion. After their two fights together, they remained on friendly terms. Apollo steps in to train Rocky after the death of his trainer, Mickey in Rocky III. Rocky Legends Apollo Creed's Career Mode features a younger Creed before he was the Champion. Apollo Creed first met his trainer, Tony "Duke" Evers at an national amateur boxing championship. Duke was an old boxer reaching the end of his career. After Creed beat Duke at the championships, Duke retired and agreed to be Apollo's trainer. The rest of his Career Mode deals with Apollo's rise to the title and eventual two matches with Rocky balboa. Rocky I Creed was world champion, taking a fight with lightly regarded Rocky Balboa. Creed treated the fight as more of a show than an actual fight until Rocky knocked him down, the first time Creed was ever knocked down in his career. He went through a grueling 15-rounder with the game Balboa, which he won by split decision. He, at first, declined a rematch. Creed is perhaps the most important supporting character in the series, although he only appeared in the first four films. He is solely responsible for Balboa's claim to fame, and his recapturing of the the title after both his initial defeat at the hands of Clubber Lang and Mickey's death later that night, which had almost completely sapped Rocky's resolve. Creed's fatal defeat at the hands of Ivan Drago gave Rocky Balboa the opportunity to avenge his death, an act which gave Balboa his greatest win. Rocky II '' In the second film, Creed's initial resistance to a rematch with Balboa softened when it became clear that the prevailing public opinion was that Creed had either gotten lucky or had carried an inferior opponent the length of the match. Eager to change minds, Creed challenged Balboa to a second fight on Thanksgiving Day, 1976. Unlike their first fight, Creed dominated Balboa throughout the second fight. By the final round, he was well ahead on points, but did not want a repeat of the first fight, and vowed to knock Balboa out. After going toe-to-toe for much of the final round, both were knocked down by a left from Balboa. Rocky was able to get up by the count of 9, but Creed failed to make the count and lost by KO, his first professional loss. He retired with a record of 47-1 with 46 KO's. The phrase "The Italian Chicken" was originally coined by Creed in ''Rocky II and is now a sandwich at South Philly's Geno Steaks. It is actually a chicken cheese steak. Rocky III '' In the third film, Creed took over as Balboa’s manager and trainer, following Rocky's loss to Clubber Lang and the death of Mickey. Creed helped focus Balboa on rediscovering the fire inside that he had in their fights and which he had clearly lost in the time leading up to the Lang fight. Taking Rocky Adrian and Paulie to Creed's home town of Los Angeles for training, Creed called this fire the "Eye of the Tiger". Re-energized with Creed in his corner, Balboa regained his title with a three-round knockout of Lang. ''Rocky IV '' In Weathers's final appearance in the film series, Creed himself returns to the ring to challenge Soviet champion Ivan Drago to an exhibition fight at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nevada. Drago was much younger and in peak physical condition. Creed trusted his ring generalship to make quick work of Drago, but Drago destroyed Creed with 1850 psi of force and knocked him unconscious in round 2, an act which would prove to be the cause of Creed's death. Rocky later avenges this by defeating Drago in Russia. ''Rocky V and Rocky Balboa Creed is briefly seen in the end credits montage of Rocky V. Also, in Rocky V, Tommy Gunn mentions Rocky's first fight with Creed, and the Apollo's Stars and Stripes trunks are passed down to Tommy. In Rocky Balboa, Creed is mentioned once in the film (when Rocky tells fight stories to customers at his restarunt). However, Creed is not seen in any form of flashback (this was due to a fall out between Sylvester Stallone and Carl Weathers, which was caused by Weathers wish to appear in Rocky Balboa. Stallone denied his request, and as a result, Weathers refused the right to use his image in the film.) Resurrection and Cyborg Imposter Apollo Creed in Ivan Drago: Justice Enforcer states he came back to life. However, Ivan Drago defeats him again, causing Creed to explode. Rocky Balboa appears, explaining that the imposter was his own Apollo cyborg. It is possible that Apollo Creed actually did resurrect, inexplicably appearing in Mikhail Gorbachev's Soviet Embassy. Creed took to the streets and fought crime, eventually confronting the cyborg of himself in Mighty Mick's Gym. He then faced his old rival, Rocky Balboa, who fought from a wheelchair. Fighting style Because the original film was released in 1976 during the reign of Muhammad Ali, it is reasonable to assume that, with Ali being considered the quintessential boxer by having defeated some of the best of the time, Creed was based largely on him. Like Ali, Apollo was an outside fighter, relying on his speed and power to get through fights. His jab-cross-hook combination were his mainstay, and also just like Ali, Creed's defense was heavily contingent upon his speed. Apollo used Ali's "float like a butterfly, sting like a bee" philosophy, being able to bob and weave and frustrate his opponents But just like Ali, Creed was susceptible to taking a lot of damage during fights because of the level at which he held his hands, a fact which ultimately proved to be his undoing. By the second film his fancy wind up and punch with the other fist looked like it came from Welter weight champion Sugar Ray Leonard. Appearances *''Rocky I'' ******''Rocky II'' ******''Rocky III'' ******''Rocky IV'' ******''Rocky'' video game ******''Rocky: Legends'' ******''Ivan Drago: Justice Enforcer'' Category:Boxers Category:Heroes